Beverly Heather D'Angelo
Engaging, inspiring and always intriguing -- are the main adjectives when describing the career of Beverly D'Angelo, which has already passed the four-decade mark. It is possible that she deserves better films than she generally found herself in, she nevertheless was always a source of fascination and the one to watch...whatever the role. Hollywood loved her vibrant personality, easy-going demeanor and her capacity to take scenes. Beverly Heather D'Angelo is the daughter of Eugene Constantino "Gene", a bass player and musician, who was also the head of the management of a TV station. Her birthplace was in Columbus, Ohio on November 15th the 15th of November, 1951. Howard Dwight Smith, her maternal grandfather, was the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium architect at Ohio State University. Her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and German ancestry, and her father was of Italian descent. Beverly was a student at an American school in Florence. Beverly began her job as an animator/cartoonist Hanna-Barbera Productions. After moving to Canada, Beverly became a session performer and sang wherever she could, even in coffeehouses and bars with topless seats. Ronnie Hawkins invited Beverly to be part of his rockabilly band at one point. Beverly started her career in acting when she was a part of the Charlottetown Festival repertory troupe and left Hawkins. While traveling Canada as Ophelia she saw an opportunity to perform in "Kronborg 1582" which is a musical rock version of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen dewhurst was there and saw promise in Beverly. Then, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was completely revamped, and it became the musical rock "Rockabye Hamlet". It made it to Broadway in 1976. Although the show was short-lived but Beverly's Ophelia attracted fine notices and she soon found herself on the West coast with film and TV opportunities. After this point she was never back on the stage, though she did appear alongside Ed Harris in the 1995 off-Broadway version of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico", which earned her the Theatre World Award. Parts in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977) were her first TV parts. First Love (1977), Clint Eastwood's film Every Which Way but Loose (78), and the film version of the popular counterculture music Hair (1979) included a number of the co-starring roles she played. One of the most memorable moments for Beverly was her stunning lead role as the sole Patsy Cline in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). She as well as Sissy Spacek, a friend of fellow country singer Loretta Lynn, both provided the vocals with aplomb.


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